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MAPUTO — Mozambican police over the weekend arrested seven gunmen of the main political opposition party Renamo who were smuggling AK-47 assault rifles through the southern province of Inhambane. Acting on a tip-off, the police stopped the pick-up truck they were using, and found fifteen guns hidden in sacks of maize, plus their ammunition clips and 2 842 rounds of ammunition, according to the state news agency AIM.

“We were informed of the transport of guns in vehicles belonging to Renamo,” the Inhambane provincial police commander, Raul Ossufo, said.

The Renamo rebels tried to open fire when they realised the police ambush, near the bridge separating Morrumbene district from Maxixe city, said Ossufo, adding that the men were all arrested, including two escaped members who were caught in the town of Quissico, in southern Inhambane.

Ossufo said that a member of the group, Felizardo Muchanga, belonged to the Renamo unit which reoccupied the old Renamo base at Catine, Homoine district, at the turn of the year, and took part in the attack on Mavume, in the district of Funhalouro, inland area of Inhambane on January 14.

Muchanga escaped from the subsequent attack by the Mozambican armed forces (FADM) against the camp the group was setting up at Mabelecula, near Mavume.

Alexandre Agostinho, another member of the group, claimed that the guns were all from the Renamo bases in Gorongosa district, in the central province of Sofala, and were intended for activities in Inhambane. However, earlier last week, the Inhambane provincial police told the local daily newspaper Noticias that the Inhambane Province was free from armed Renamo rebels.

Tension between Renamo and the government ratcheted up after the Mozambican troops stormed Renamo’s main base in the mountainous Gorongosa region in October last year, where its leader Afonso Dhlakama had been staying. — Xinhua.